Baby Blues

Baby Blues : Phrases

Meaning:

Feelings of depression or anxiety, experienced by some mothers following childbirth.

Origin:

Had anyone mentioned 'baby blues' prior to WWII they would have been thought to have been talking about colour - specifically the colour of someone's eyes. Most babies are born with blue eyes due to a lack of the melanin pigment until sometime after birth. The use of the term 'baby blues' to mean eyes is a natural development, which came about in the USA in the early 20th century. For example, this from the American author Rex Ellingwood Beach's novel Winds of Chance, 1918:

"Fix your baby blues on the little ball and watch me close."

In the 1940s 'baby blues' began to be used with the meaning we now usually give it, i.e. post-natal depression.